| Title |
What is the Cost of Free Cleft Surgery in the Middle East?
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
World Journal of Surgery, October 2017
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s00268-017-4309-8 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Samar Sheriff, Hassan J. Zawahrah, Lenisa V. Chang, Sonay Beyatli, Haithem M. Elhadi Babiker, Ashton L. Roach, Natalyia Biskup, John A. van Aalst |
| Abstract |
This project explores the costs of cleft lip and/or palate surgeries in Palestine and Sudan, two low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), in the Middle East. Our purpose is to examine the veracity of advertisements from international cleft organizations claiming that "250 US dollars (USD) covers the cost of a single cleft surgery." We hypothesize that the actual cost of surgery is greater than 250 USD. Costs for each cleft surgery were organized broadly into 5 categories: hospital charges, personnel (time and money spent for health professionals to travel to LMIC, including lost wages), tests, consumables, and reusables. Each item was priced at market value during the time of data collection. Following itemization of actual costs, we compared the costs per cleft surgery among four surgical practice models: (1) visiting international surgical teams, (2) visiting international surgeon working with local teams, (3) local teams working at government hospitals, and (4) local teams working at private hospitals. Our results suggest that 250 USD is an underestimate of actual costs per cleft surgery in all models. The most expensive model in both Palestine and Sudan was the first model, visiting international teams performing all team functions; the cheapest surgical model in both countries was a local team working at government hospitals. The largest cost for any of these models is travel and lost wages for international team members. Eliminating this single cost (travel) decreases overall cost tremendously, but still does not approach the advertised cost of 250 USD. We conclude that 250 USD underestimates the actual costs to perform a single cleft surgery in Palestine and Sudan. If international cleft organizations are genuinely committed to creating sustainable international cleft programs, they should focus exclusively on training local professionals to perform surgery in hospitals of their own choosing. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 3 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 3 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 2 | 67% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 33% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 36 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 36 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Researcher | 4 | 11% |
| Student > Bachelor | 4 | 11% |
| Student > Master | 3 | 8% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 3 | 8% |
| Lecturer > Senior Lecturer | 2 | 6% |
| Other | 6 | 17% |
| Unknown | 14 | 39% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Medicine and Dentistry | 8 | 22% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 4 | 11% |
| Social Sciences | 4 | 11% |
| Business, Management and Accounting | 2 | 6% |
| Economics, Econometrics and Finance | 1 | 3% |
| Other | 1 | 3% |
| Unknown | 16 | 44% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 23 October 2017.
All research outputs
#14,366,847
of 23,006,268 outputs
Outputs from World Journal of Surgery
#2,790
of 4,259 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#181,396
of 326,542 outputs
Outputs of similar age from World Journal of Surgery
#70
of 107 outputs
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